Luis earns a base salary of $250.00 every week with an additional 7% commission on everything he sells. If Luis sold $4950.00 worth of items last week, what was his total salary?
Solution: First, find the amount of commission made by using the following formula: commission rate $\times$ total sales $=$ amount of commission made Since the commission rate is a percentage, we have to convert it into a decimal first. Percent means "out of one hundred," so $7\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{7}{100}$ which is also equal to $7 \div 100$ $7 \div 100 = 0.07$ Now you have all the information you need to find the amount of commission made: $0.07$ $\times$ $$4950.00$ $=$ $$346.50$ We can find the total salary for Luis by adding the amount of commission made to his base salary. amount of commission made $+$ base salary $=$ total salary $$346.50$ $+$ $$250.00$ $=$ $$596.50$ The total salary Luis made last week was $$596.50$.